


she knew him

by meganseverafter



Series: in the end, all our stories are folklore [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meganseverafter/pseuds/meganseverafter
Summary: The Doctor was gruff and a bit mad and she knew she shouldn’t find a man who says he can feel the planet spinning beneath his feet half as attractive as she did. But how could she not fall for that mad smile of his? For the way he made her feel as if she could feel the planet spinning too while grounding her in place when he gripped her hand? For the way he hugged her as if he had to make sure she was actually there?
Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler
Series: in the end, all our stories are folklore [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852807
Kudos: 36





	she knew him

When you’re young, everyone assumes you don’t know what you’re doing. And yeah, maybe she didn’t, with Jimmy. But for all that she didn’t know when she stepped into the TARDIS, she knew that it was a chance she’d never regret taking. 

The Doctor was gruff and a bit mad and she knew she shouldn’t find a man who says he can feel the planet spinning beneath his feet half as attractive as she did. But how could she not fall for that mad smile of his? For the way he made her feel as if she could feel the planet spinning too while grounding her in place when he gripped her hand? For the way he hugged her as if he had to make sure she was actually there? 

She’s young, yes, and she might not have finish her A-levels, but she’s not stupid. (“Beautiful for a _human_.” Yeah, _right_.)

Adam was a piss poor attempt at getting the Doctor’s attention, but Jack. _Jack_ was perfect. The absolute best combination of utterly charming, impossibly flirty, and completely respectful of the fact that nothing would ever happen with her because she only had eyes for one daft alien. It didn’t hurt either that he was a fantastic companion outside of her initial plan for him. 

And still, despite all of Rose and Jack’s best attempts, nothing happens. 

And then it all falls apart. The Doctor strands her at home, Jack dies, and the Doctor tries to sacrifice himself. 

She knew him, knew all of time and space. It’s a shame he didn’t know her well enough to expect that it’d take more than a simple trick for her to let him die, _her_ Doctor. 

A good man lives. 

The Time War ends. 

For now. 

*******************************************

She knew him, dancing in his Levi’s, but the man laying in bed in Howard’s jimjams? How’s she supposed to know him?

She wants the Doctor, but all she has is this maniac and a half functioning timeship during an alien invasion on Christmas. 

It’s the first time since meeting him that she thinks maybe they were right; when you’re young, you know nothing. 

*******************************************

He’s the Doctor. She knows that now. Can see it still in that mad grin of his, present so much more often than before. Sees it in his mercurial moods, in the way his hand in hers still feels like spinning at a thousand miles an hour and yet she’s never felt more grounded. 

The hugs though, those are different. _More_ , somehow. And now her lingering glances are matched more openly than he ever used to let her see. They’re almost enough to make her think that _maybe_. 

She promises him forever, and she means it down to her bones. _Her_ Doctor. 

*******************************************

Forever seems as impossible as the planet floating around a black hole, the Doctor and the TARDIS lost to her as she’s forced to evacuate. 

He’d come back to her, she’s sure, but the crew won’t hear it. 

His voice over the intercom feels like slipping into a warm bath after a long day. She knew it, because she knows him. 

*******************************************

She tried to change the ending. 

As much as she loves her mum and Mickey, she knows she could never be happy in that universe. Not when she’d have to live without the Doctor. Not when she promised him forever and only managed nearly two years. She goes back to him just as she’s always done, as she always will. She’s made her choice. 

*******************************************

It’s a sterile white room and and all she wants to do is destroy it. _She’d made her choice, dammit!_

She may not have known everything, but she knew he’d haunt her with the what-if’s and maybes. 

*******************************************

He lingers like a tattoo on her body through every blind date her mum forces her on. 

*******************************************

She can’t worry about the what-if’s anymore. 

The maybes are pushed aside. 

There is only the mission of finding him and sorting out the disappearing stars. 

She’s still young, but she knows how to prioritize the multiverse over her own selfish desires. 

*******************************************

The curse of the Time Lords, yeah. That’s nothing compared to the way Rose Tyler curses the last of them, deserted yet again on a bloody beach in Norway. 

She thought she knew him, thought she was older, but he makes her question it all again. 

*******************************************

She doesn’t feel the turn of the Earth when John grabs her hand, but she still feels the grounding force. It’s enough. 

She knows this is as close to her dreams as she’s going to get now.


End file.
